Just as Lunal is about to move in and grab it, they are suddenly stopped by Krovek, who starts to move to grab it, but is suddenly stopped by Hollie. When the party backs up a little, Hollie moves in and obtains the magical pick - releasing a huge cloud of spores. Thankfully Krovek’s understanding of the nature of the hazard led him to shove everyone away from it - even through the chaotic decision-making about who would grab the pick first. Hollie is the only one affected - and she holds her breath. Unfortunately, the spores seem to have settled over much of her body as she stumbles out of the now quickly-settling spore cloud.
After a few rounds of coughing it looks like she’s able to fight off the fungal infestation.
"Are you all right?" Shaedeen asks in concern as Hollie's coughing fit abates. "Hope that thing's worth it," she comments of the magical pick.
Cator stares, baffled at all of his companions falling over themselves to touch the dangerous mold, then states "If we are done with ... that, let's head up to the basement."
"Nice work, Hollie," says Krovek, as she comes out unscathed. "Yeah, let's get on upstairs."
Lunal inspects the pick for a moment from a safe distance then stores it along with everything else. "Upstairs than."
The party returns upstairs and takes one of the side passages from the room that contains the top of the spiral staircase. It leads to a locked door, but Shaedeen remembers that Foxglove had a number of keys, and after checking for traps, tries them until it opens.
This room looks to have once been some sort of arcane workshop, although it now lies in ruin. A row of soggy books sits on the northern end of a workbench along the western wall. At the other end of the workbench, what looks like three iron birdcages sit, each containing a dead diseased rat. To the east, two stained-glass windows loom. The northern window depicts a thin man with gaunt features drinking a foul-looking brew of green fluid, while the southern one shows the same man but in an advanced state of decay, as if he had been dead for several weeks. His arms raised and head thrown back in triumph, his rotting body turns to smoke and spirals into a seven-sided box.
Cator inspects the stained glass windows.
Afterwards, Cator checks the titles on the drenched books.
"So, some crazy man's workshop?" wonders Krovek aloud as they explore the space. The half-orc decides to pick at a few of the soggy books to figure out their subject matter for curiosity's sake.
Shaedeen pauses by Cator, also gazing at the stained glass windows. "Did...did Aldern intentionally turn himself undead?"
”Maybe, but I think this was likely either his father or grandfather’s work,” Hollie muses.
After poking about the books, Krovek also inspects the stained glass.
"The seven sided box is interestin'. Kinda reminds me of the seven-sided star."
He shrugs, not really understanding. "Keep goin'? Sooner we finish our search, sooner we can burn the place down."
"It was a very smart move to follow her vengeance, but we ended up skipping much of this building. There are secrets to uncover. Let us continue, we can burn it down once we're done with it all."
"Agreed. Let's finish searching this hell hole and make sure it's threats are dealt with so we can get out of here," Hollie agrees.
Based on the portraits from upstairs, the creature depicted turning into a lich was clearly Vorel Foxglove, Aldern's ancestor.
Cator looks at the spines of the books, and notes they all have sinister titles related to necromancy and undeath.
Suddenly, Hollie is seized with a terrifying realization.
You just realized... Vorel has already succeeded at turning himself into a lich! You have to find your child, and rescue her, she's upstairs. Get her before Vorel kills her!
Seeming to have a fit of madness, when Hollie steps into the room, she is obviously overcome. Hollie immediately tries to return to the hallway to the staircase/hole in the ceiling, trying to push past everyone. Drax tries to follow, looking confused.
"Hollie, what is it? Hollie!?" Lunal cries out with a blend of concern and frustration.
Suspecting that her friend's been victimized by another of the manor's haunts, Shaedeen tries to grab Hollie before she gets too far.
"Not again," sighs Krovek. He too tries to grab Hollie, dropping his greataxe in the process.
"Sorry girl, can't let ya get in trouble here."
Hollie attacks Shaedeen as she tries to grab the Paladin, and looks like she will do the same to Krovek but can’t
But Krovek successfully grabs her. Drax turns to the half orc, and partially snarling says, ”she will make me attack you!”
"Crazy b&%+!!" swears Krovek, but he lets go once threatened by Drax, who at least gave a warning. He will pick up his greataxe and try to follow.
Hollie shakes off the grab and moves away, heading towards the staircase room. Draxtherian helps her up through the hole, and with a worried expression, the paladin - with Draxtherian following, seems to go upstairs, muttering something about "my daughter". Drax follows, with a flare of his nostrils, angry seeming at having his will ursurped again.
Shaedeen follows after Hollie and Drax. "I really hate this place!" she grumbles.
"If she starts doin' somethin' real kooky, I might still knock her out!" Krovek is clearly miffed at having been forced to back down just now, but continues to follow.
The party follows the relatively slowly-moving Hollie back upstairs, then again to the first floor, then again to the second floor. All the way back to the room with the thick carpet of mold. Hollie reaches the room, and looks around, then shakes her head, whispering only
Shaedeen's not sure what to do, but she's got to try to help her friend...and maybe even whatever spirit's currently controlling her.
"It's not your fault," she says, draping an arm around Hollie's waist and trying to steer her gently out the door again. "There's nothing you can do here. Let's get away from all this mold, OK?"
Krovek starts looking around the room quickly again. Was it a girl's bedroom? What was the story here? It was hard to piece it all together.
He's on guard for trouble as Shae attempts to ease Hollie out of the room. But he'll calm down once he realizes that Hollie has control of her faculties once more.
Hollie clutches her head and just nods her head, whatever specter’s emotions still weighing on her as she wearily follows the others out.
The party successfully manages to leave the room.
Seeing that Hollie has recovered her senses, the half-orc doesn't ask more questions. "C'mon, back downstairs. Let's clear out this basement." Krovek matter-of-factly leads the way back down.
The party heads back down to the last room, and does not examine anything more in the room, instead leaving through the southern door into a hallway, about 30' long, that ends in another hallway. The door to said hall is unlocked with one of Aldern's keys. After Shaedeen checks the door at the end of the hall for traps, and finding none, Hollie pops the door open.
A large oaken table, its surface covered with moldy stains and rat droppings, sits in the center of this large kitchen. Shelves line the walls, and an oversized fireplace dominates the northeast portion of the room. The shelves in the southwest wall are in a much greater state of disarray, and two one-footwide cracks in the wall near the floor lead south into the earth beyond the basement walls.
Krovek walks into the room and approaches the fireplace, his axe at the ready. He looks for trouble. If nothing happens, he listens at the northern door.
While Krovek listens at the door, the much smaller Shaedeen crouches next to him, examining the door and its lock for traps.
Hollie stands quietly behind the pair. Draxtherian nuzzles up at her, and she gently runs his neck to calm her nerves from the repeat possessions.
Cator inspects the fireplace for anything unusual.
Lunal enters the room and stays in the back, scanning for magic.
In a cupboard near the oven sits a very fine silver dinner set, with an exceptionally large silver salver and a dozen crystal decanters. The set as a whole is worth 1,000 gp. A DC 15 Perception check reveals a small clay urn hidden in a nook behind a loose brick on the chimney. The urn is stuffed with some dried pine cones and three small violet garnets worth 100 gp each.
A rapidly growing susurrus of creatures, crawling just behind the wall, compressed against each other, becomes audible as the party moves in and looks around. The shuffling of bodies and tiny claws, pressed tightly against each other, is unmistakable, as are the chorus of rodent squeaks - there are rats in the walls - and they approach the room through twisting warrens of their own design.
Lunal jumps up on the table, trying to gain distance from the others so the incoming rat swarm doesn't catch everybody.
Fearing a swarm, Krovek draws a vial of Alchemist's Fire!
With little other option against what sounds like a multitude of rodents, Hollie and Drax both brave and ready themselves for the wave, planning to slash and claw as many as they can as they approach.
Shaedeen hops onto the other end of the table from Lunal, rapier drawn and ready.
Preparing for an attack, Cator begins his raging song.
The rats pour from the walls - somehow stronger than a typical swarm of rats, salivating at the prospect of another feast, one group climbs onto the table and the other moves to devour three which are on the floor.
But the party is at least somewhat ready for them.
Hollie weathers the wave of rats and slashes out again with her blade!
Draxtherian, meanwhile, appears thoroughly disgusted by the vermin that dared touch him!
Lunal holds their stomach against the rats. They carefully assess the layout of their allies, and two glowing hands come up. "Valignatir cha'sidic!" A cone of fire erupts out!
Shaedeen hops down from the table. Although it's not the best weapon for battling a rat swarm, the rogue again brings her rapier to bear against the rodents, skewering a whole line of them before flicking the corpses against the wall.
"Like spearing fish in a barrel!" she exclaims with a cocky grin.
for
for
Krovek launches his flask of fire at the rat swarm!
;
He then moves out of the way, spreading out to diffuse the impact of the swarm.
Between the fire and the rapiers, many of the rats are killed, and the hive mind seems to disappate. The remainder that are alive scurry away into crevasses.
In a cupboard near the oven sits a very fine silver dinner set, with an exceptionally large silver salver and a dozen crystal decanters. The set as a whole is worth 1,000 gp. A careful examination reveals a small clay urn hidden in a nook behind a loose brick on the chimney. The urn is stuffed with some dried pine cones and three small violet garnets worth 100 gp each.
Searching the floor for valuables or anything else of interest, the party finds a door to a wine cellar. Two wine racks line the walls here, their shelves empty and dusty. Mounds of broken glass bottles clutter the floor. The cellar has a secret nook hidden away, and careful searching finds eight bottles of a fine vintage of Vigardeis vineyard in Cheliax, each worth 100 gold pieces.
The party also finds what was once a pantry. This room has become a filthy, reeking lair of what must be hundreds, if not thousands, of rats. Swaths of fur cling to everything, and mounds of rat droppings cover the floor. This looks to be where the rats lived.
There is also a door to what must have been quarters for a kitchen staff. Two bunks stand in this room, relatively free of dust and mold. A single chair lies on its side between them.
"My magical reserves are almost entirely exhausted. If we run into something I've got one more good spell in me, and then that's it." Lunal warns as the rats disperse.
”Have we checked and cleared everything?” Hollie asks in exasperation as Draxtherian tries to recover from the disgust of being touched by vermin.